Top 10 salary sacrifice manufacturers through orders made in the first quarter of 2015:

Nissan

Audi

Toyota

Peugeot

Citroen

Renault

Volkswagen

Mercedes-Benz

Kia

All-time top 10 salary sacrifice models ordered since the scheme launched in 2008:

Ford Fiesta

Nissan Juke

Peugeot 208

Citroen DS3

Nissan Qashqai

Audi A3

Toyota Aygo

Citroen C1

Peugeot 107

SEAT Ibiza

The most popular vehicle this year, the Nissan Juke, has been in second place since 2013 and overtaken the the Ford Fiesta, which slipped dramatically this year, from 1st in 2013 and 2014, to 9th place. Both vehicles take the top two places for most popular since the launch of salary sacrifice in 2008.

In second place this year, the ever-popular A3 has consistently moved up the table from 8th in 2013 and 6th in 2014. The brand-new Toyota Aygo was only launched last year and has really proven popular among salary sacrifice drivers as is enters the table at number three.

Salary sacrifice is the fastest-growing employee benefit in the UK. More and more employers are offering it as a very cost-effective way to provide employees with a highly valued benefit encouraging staff engagement, motivation and retention.

The attractions for drivers are simple – worry-free motoring for a fixed monthly amount where the employee simply adds fuel. Employees can save an average of £900 a year on income tax and National Insurance, plus around £500 a year on fuel by choosing more efficient models. Employers can also save approximately £300 net per employee per year due to the NI savings on the salary sacrificed.

Unsurprisingly, because employee savings are maximised by selecting the lowest CO2-emitting models, all of the top 10 models are particularly environmentally friendly, with all but one having a CO2 output of under 100g/km.

Hovering just outside of this list is the Mitsubishi Outlander, a petrol hybrid with a CO2 of just 44g/km. This model is proving to be particularly popular because, depending on the driver’s old car and their annual mileage, it can actually pay for itself in savings on the monthly fuel bill alone.

Iain Carmichael, chief commercial officer for Tusker, comments: “Four of the models in this list did not feature at all last year. This shows that customers are increasingly moving towards smaller, more fuel-efficient models. Although they don’t yet feature in the top 10, electric vehicles are becoming more and more popular. At the moment, two per cent of our vehicle orders are electric or hybrid vehicles. Over the next three years, this is likely to increase to eight per cent.”